Senior Manager – Total Rewards | MAF Retail | India
Role Purpose
The Senior Manager – Total Rewards is responsible for leading the design, governance, and continuous enhancement of MAF Retail's compensation and benefits frameworks across multiple markets.
The role operates within a centralized Total Rewards COE model, ensuring consistency, competitiveness, and compliance of reward practices, while acting as a strategic reward partner to business units and country People & Organization (P&O) teams. The role also serves as a control gate for compensation decisions, ensuring alignment with the Delegation of Authority (DOA), approved policies, and financial budgets.
Role Details – Key Responsibilities And Accountabilities
- Total Rewards Strategy & Design
- Lead the design, review, and continuous improvement of compensation frameworks, including salary structures, allowances, and incentive programs
- Ensure alignment of Total Rewards strategy with business objectives, organizational design, and market competitiveness
- Drive standardization and harmonization of reward structures across markets, while ensuring compliance with local regulations
- Contribute to the development of enterprise-wide reward initiatives and transformation projects
- Governance, Compliance & DOA
- Act as a governance authority on all compensation-related matters, ensuring strict adherence to DOA and approved frameworks
- Review and validate off-cycle increases, promotions, and exception cases, ensuring consistency and fairness
- Ensure full compliance with labor laws, internal policies, and audit requirements across all markets
- Maintain robust documentation, audit trails, and reporting standards for all compensation decisions
- Track and enforce closure of internal and external audit findings
- Market Benchmarking & Job Evaluation
- Lead market benchmarking and internal equity analysis to maintain competitive positioning (target percentile alignment)
- Working with external vendors (e.g., Korn Ferry, Mercer) for TR COE Project specific queries
- Oversee and validate job evaluation outcomes, ensuring alignment with grading frameworks and organizational structure
- Act as the final validation point for senior-level job evaluations
- Reward Business Partnering
- Serve as aTactical advisor to business leaders and country P&O teams on reward-related matters
- Support and govern annual processes, including:
- Merit review cycles
- Bonus planning and payouts
- Provide data-driven insights and recommendations to enable informed decision-making
- Maintain alignment and consistency of reward practices with other across the Group.
- Financial Planning & Cost Management
- Cascade of market movement factors for manpower budgeting & tracking merit budget utilization
- Provide input into cost-saving initiatives while maintaining competitiveness and employee value proposition
- Ensure all compensation decisions are financially sustainable and aligned with approved budgets
- Digital, Systems & Data Governance
- Contribute to compensation-related system enhancements (SAP / SuccessFactors or equivalent)
- Audit data accuracy, system integrity, and proper recording of compensation transactions
- Develop dashboards and analytics to provide actionable insights for leadership on specific TR COE projects
- Drive automation and process efficiency improvements
- Capability Building & Leadership
- Drive capability building in compensation across P&O and business leaders through training and toolkits
- Provide guidance and mentorship to P&O teams across markets
- Foster a strong governance culture with focus on fairness, consistency, and compliance
- Where applicable, lead or indirectly manage team members across markets (matrix leadership)
Definition of Success
- Compliance with DOA and zero major audit findings (or timely closure of findings)
- Market competitiveness alignment (e.g., positioning within defined percentile range)
- Accuracy and quality of job evaluations (>98% consistency benchmark)
- Budget adherence and variance management
- Reduction in unmanaged exceptions / off-cycle cases
- Stakeholder satisfaction (P&O and business leadership feedback)
- Data accuracy and reporting quality
Other Context (if Applicable)
- Advanced compensation and benefits design
- Job evaluation methodologies (Hay / Mercer or equivalent)
- Market benchmarking and salary survey analysis
- Incentive plan design and governance
- Workforce cost modeling and financial analysis
- HR systems (SAP, SuccessFactors or equivalent)
- Data analytics and dashboard development
- Regulatory compliance across GCC and emerging markets
Functional/Technical Competencies
Minimum Qualifications/education
Qualification, Experience & Skills:
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Finance, Business Administration, or related field
- Master's degree (MBA or HR specialization) preferred
- Professional certifications in job evaluation (e.g., Hay) preferred
- Knowledge of Power BI or Other Compensation Analytical tools would be an added advantage
Minimum Experience
- Minimum 8–10 years of progressive experience in Total Rewards or Compensation & Benefits
- Experience of designing, implementing and managing change programs as an in-house experience
- Experience in large, matrixed, multi-country organizations (preferably GCC exposure)
- Proven track record in compensation design, governance, and policy implementation
Skills
- Strong analytical and data-driven mindset
- High attention to detail and governance discipline
- Ability to perform effectively under accelerated timelines
- Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills
- Ability to balance strategic thinking with execution
- Strong communication and presentation skills
- High level of integrity and confidentiality
